


Life in All Saints

by Accidental_Ducky



Category: Nurse Jackie (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 15:31:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8538484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accidental_Ducky/pseuds/Accidental_Ducky
Summary: Working at a normal hospital meant a ton of stress, but All Saints and its staff is about as far from normal as it gets. You have an administrator that’s forgotten what it’s like to be a nurse, a nurse who’s addicted to pills, two arrogant doctors, and a publicist that just wants to make it to her next paycheck without her son throwing a tantrum in Walmart again. The real question isn’t whether or not Lena will survive the chaos, it’s whether or not she’ll manage to remain sane afterwards.





	

You know those days when nothing seems to go right? Like the universe and all the gods had decided on using you as their personal punching bag? Anything that can go wrong will because that’s simply how your luck was running, and dammit, you just need a margarita, a beach far away from your home, and one of those guys off the covers of romance books just flexing his muscles….

Yeah, Lena was having one of those.

“I know I’m late,” she says as she sticks her head into her boss’s office,” my son decided that he would wear sneakers to school or go naked.”

“Been there,” Gloria says with a frown,” just make sure you try to be early tomorrow.” Lena snorts, but nods all the same before jogging down the hall to her office. It was tiny and her desk took up most of the space, but she didn’t need anything fancy. Hell, she was just happy that her chair was the type with wheels.

She sets her purse down on the desk, grabbing the Ziploc baggy of makeup and pulling a small mirror closer to her so she could see what she was doing. There was no way in hell she was facing everybody in the hospital without her war paint. No way, no how, ain’t gonna happen.

“Shit, where’s my eyeliner?”

She digs through her purse, anxious to find the one part of her daily makeup that wasn’t hard for her to do. Impatient, she turns her purse upside down and dumps its contents on the desk, catching the little black stick before it could roll off. _I’m so not in the mood for this right now_. She applies everything with a careful hand, making sure it was all blended in and her pale hair was as straight as usual before allowing herself to relax.

After dealing with a gaggle of boys and having her toaster randomly catch fire that morning, she was half-convinced that God had it out for her. She rests her cheek against her laptop, staring blankly at the wall for a moment. She needed some peace, she needed the silence or she might just go insane and murder everyone here.

“Lena, you up for breakfast?” She groans as the person speaking barges into her office, taking in the expensive Penny Loafers and blue dress shirt before her eyes landed on the goofy smile that completely contradicted the man’s good looks. He was kind of like an Australian Shepard in that he was really cool looking, but acted like a little kid.

“Do I look like I’m up for breakfast, Coop,” she returns, arching a brow.

“You look like you didn’t sleep last night, but I didn’t think you’d want me to mention that.” She makes a face, reluctantly sitting up. Coop moves across the room and tugs on her wrist like he did when they were kids. “C’mon, I need my breakfast buddy!”

“I need a scotch and soda, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna get it.” Coop pokes his bottom lip out and widens his green eyes, looking every bit like a dejected Peanuts character. “Fine,” Lena groans,” but only ‘cause you look pathetic.” He immediately perks up, grinning broadly as she gets to her feet.

“Great, I have some stories to tell you about that new club that opened up.”

“How the hell are we even friends?”

“Opposites attract.”

“More like you’re insane and need a keeper.” He just keeps grinning, pulling her after him to the cafeteria downstairs. It was habit by now, soothing and familiar for the both of them after years of doing it. Hell, they’d met in the grade school cafeteria and had stuck together ever since. “Do we have to eat here?”

“Yeah, I got a couple patients that need me close by.”

“Well, I’ve got a credit card that my ex-husband is in charge of paying off.” Coop sends her a look and she shrugs with a smile of her own. “What? He knew it was coming when he handed it over this morning.”

“Is it weird to have to keep contact with your ex? I think I’d have some sort of breakdown.”

“Tristan and I work better as friends than we did as a couple and we didn’t want to be those parents that made their son deliver messages. Logan’s a kid, not a pigeon.”

“He’d make a really cool pigeon, though.” Lena steps in front of her friend and forces him to stop, one of her eyebrows arched again as she looks up at him. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna buy him a pigeon. I learned my lesson when you made me take the last animal back.”

“It was a _piglet_ , Coop.”

“Yeah, but he was a really cute piglet.” Lena rolls her eyes, allowing him to spin her around and loop one of his arms through hers so they were walking together again. “Anyway, how was I supposed to know Tristan had some childhood fear of little piglets?”

“That’s not why I made you take Bacon back to that farm, it’s because I wasn’t about to have a fucking pig messing up my backyard.” Coop shrugs a shoulder, a little smile still playing on his thin lips even as he glances around the busy halls. Coop was the type of guy who belonged on a magazine cover, but he’d chosen to become a doctor instead because he wanted to make the big bucks without starving himself. “What’s being served today?”

“Scrambled eggs, toast, and oatmeal.” Lena makes a face, not interested in any of what the cafeteria passed as food—she was convinced that it was actually military surplus—but her growling belly would take anything as long as it wasn’t burnt beyond recognition. “How’s my nephew doing this morning?”

“Rambunctious.” The enter the cafeteria a few seconds later, getting in line and picking up a tray for their food. “He had a sleepover last night since he’s maintained straight A’s for a month, all three of the boys thought it’d be a great idea to stay up late and watch Orphan.”

“Yeesh, how’d that go?”

“Well, they decided the little girl next door was actually a serial killer and she would get them all if they didn’t sleep in my bed.” What few hours of sleep she did manage to get last night had been spent with bony elbows in her sides and her son literally sleeping on top of her back. “The scariest thing they get to watch next time will be Barney.”

“Oh please, how many times did we watch Nightmare on Elm Street when we were kids? Being scared is fun as long as you know you’re safe.”

“I wasn’t the parent that had to handle screaming kids back then, though.”

“That’s true. Your dad still glares at me whenever he sees me ever since he woke up with my foot in his face.”

“That’s because you were sixteen and not even supposed to be staying over when that happened.” His smile widens, leading the way over to their usual table once they’d gotten their plates and drinks. “Anyway, I texted the parents to let them know what had happened and to prepare them in case their boys came home saying I allowed the incident.” Truth was, Lena had passed out right after dinner and didn’t wake up until she felt the weight settle on her back.

“If it makes you feel any better, Logan called me last night and I talked him out of watching the fourth Saw movie.”

“Thank you for that, Coop.”

“No problem.” She watches him for a moment as he takes a long drink from his bottle of chocolate milk, taking in the way he’d cut his dark hair like she’d told him to the night before. He wasn’t able to pull off long hair beyond the casual shaggy look and he knew when she suggested a haircut that he was getting close to the hobo look again.

“So, what’s happened while I was wrangling kids into my ex’s car?”

“Not much really, uh… Oh, we got a busted-up bike messenger. He was hit by a car and had this really bad broken leg, like, you could see the bone and everything.” She smiles a little, pushing her eggs around her plate with her fork. He always got so excited about his job, prattling on like a school girl with a crush sometimes, but she liked to hear him talk. “Jackie wanted me to order a scan, but it’s not like she knows anything about being a doctor.”

“What?” Lena’s head snapped up at the mention of Jackie, brows furrowing as Coop waves her off. “Well, did you order the scan?”

“Nah, he just needed his leg fixed up. Are you gonna finish your toast?” She hands it over to him, still looking at him like he was the biggest idiot on the planet.

“Dude, Jackie’s been around her since the dawn of time. If she tells you to order a scan or something, then you fucking do it and thank her later.”

“Relax, it’s not like anything’s going to happen to the kid.”

“You’re gonna feel like a real asshole if something does happen, though.” She sends a silent prayer up that the kid’s alright, grasping loosely at the little silver cross hanging around her neck. “Slow down, you’ll get a stomach ache from eating that fast.” She takes a drink of her coffee as he chews slower, keeping her eyes on him to make sure he doesn’t start pigging out again. It was one thing to do that when he was just an intern that barely had time to eat, but now he had a good hour or so before the hospital traffic really picks up.

“Can I come over tonight? I’m having my apartment fumigated since the guy next to me had roaches.”

“As long as you bring over some pizza for supper.”

“Yeah, of course. You think Logan’s old enough to play Monopoly or should we just stick with Candyland? I mean, I’m cool with both, but I don’t want little man stressing out over it. You know what, I’m just gonna stick with Candyland toda— Oh, fuck!” Lena’s brows shoot up as some chocolate milk lands on Coop’s shirt, leaving a dark brown mess right over his belly. “Shit, it’s cold!”

“That’s called Karma, sweetie.”


End file.
